The party that still thinks the Bush tax cuts (which resulted in the most negligible job creation in decades) and the Iraq War (which resulted in the Iraq War) both worked wants you to believe that the stimulus failed. And they’ve been making that argument since before the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act even had a chance to work.

This strategy of asserting — despite all the evidence — that the president’s first major accomplishment did not succeed was so successful in the 2010 elections that Republicans are still doing it five years later on the anniversary of the law’s signing, and few Democrats are willing to stand up for the effort that helped blunt the worst of the financial crisis.

…. beyond rescuing the economy from a greater depression, the stimulus helped remake America, as Time‘s Mike Grunwald explains in his must-read narrative of the law’s enfolding, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era. With lots of help from Grunwald — whose most recent reflections on the law appear in “5 Years After Stimulus, Obama Says It Worked” — here are five ways the stimulus saved and remade America’s economy when we needed it most.

It seems like ages ago, but in late 2008 and early 2009, the global economic crisis had reached terrifying levels, and U.S. policymakers had to choose a direction for the nation’s future. Democrats rallied behind a stimulus package called the Recovery Act, while Republicans called for a five-year federal spending freeze.

Five years later, on the anniversary of President Obama signing the Recovery Act into law, GOP lawmakers are apparently eager to ask, “See how right we were?”

…. One of the funniest quotes I’ve seen in a while came from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who argued on the stimulus’ anniversary, “The real tragedy here is that none of this was necessary. Republicans have always been willing to work with the president on reforms.”

…. It is sad today that extremist ideologues are arguing the stimulus failed. This is very dangerous for the future. As an example, look at these absurd comments via the WSJ:

“If you recall five years ago, the notion was that if the government spent all this money—that, by the way, was borrowed—that somehow the economy would begin to grow and create jobs,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), in a video message released Monday morning. “Well, of course, it clearly failed.”

Obviously Rubio is clueless about the economy …. we should also ridicule the ideologues … Rubio’s comments are not just wrong but dangerous (if enough people believe him).

Republican animus toward the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, popularly known as the stimulus, hasn’t decreased over time. Today marks five years since President Obama signed the legislation into law, and Republicans from Marco Rubio to John Cornyn are using the anniversary to bash not only the bill but also the very idea of government spending.

It’s important to knock down these conservative claims about the stimulus, which haven’t gotten any more factually accurate over time. And it’s not just a matter of correcting the historical record — people shouldn’t be made to be afraid of proactive government intervention, which the economy undoubtedly needs more of.

Many of the things Republicans are saying today about the stimulus bill are predicated on a similar and presumably deliberate misunderstanding: that the legislation was meant to permanently fix the economy.

For many older Americans who lost jobs during the recession, the quest for health care has been one obstacle after another. They’re unwanted by employers, rejected by insurers, struggling to cover rising medical costs and praying to reach Medicare age before a health crisis.

These luckless people, most in their 50s and 60s, have emerged this month as early winners under the nation’s new health insurance system. Along with their peers who are self-employed or whose jobs do not offer insurance, they have been signing up for coverage in large numbers…

…. The affordable coverage is “an answer to a prayer really,” said Laura Ingle, a 57-year-old Houston attorney who had been denied coverage repeatedly because she has sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease. She recently had back surgery for a painful condition that’s been bothering her for months.

….In Miami, licensed practical nurse Marie Cadet, who is 54, often works double shifts to make ends meet for herself and her 12-year-old daughter. She had been paying more than $150 a month for health insurance, with a $3,000 deductible …. After choosing a plan from the marketplace, Cadet’s monthly payment dropped to $86 a month, with the government kicking in $300. Her deductible fell to a more affordable $900.

A billionaire retired investor is forging plans to spend as much as $100 million during the 2014 election, seeking to pressure federal and state officials to enact climate change measures through a hard-edge campaign of attack ads against governors and lawmakers.

The donor, Tom Steyer, a Democrat who founded one of the world’s most successful hedge funds, burst onto the national political scene during last year’s elections, when he spent $11 million to help elect Terry McAuliffe governor of Virginia and millions more intervening in a Democratic congressional primary in Massachusetts. Now he is rallying other deep-pocketed donors, seeking to build a war chest that would make his political organization, NextGen Climate Action, among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.

I wish I could say I’ve never seen the likes of the campaign of intimidation that led to the vote against UAW representation at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Friday. But I did, as a child growing up in a Georgia textile company town in the early 1960s, where public schools began the year on Labor Day, the word “union” was not said out loud, and people still graphically remembered National Guardsmen being called out to break a strike at Callaway Mills back in 1935—the same year Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act.

I’m a little rusty on my labor law, but I’m reasonably sure that any employer who issued the sorts of threats made by Republican politicians in Tennessee (including Sen. Bob Corker, Gov. Bill Haslam, and a variety of state legislators, backed by national conservative figures like Grove Norquist) against a unionization effort would have been in blatant violation of the NLRA. But that’s what makes the incident such a travesty….

President Obama waves to workers during a tour of the microprocessor manufacturing facility at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Ore., Feb. 18, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama talks on the phone with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon about developments in the Middle East, while backstage at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, Ore., Feb. 18, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

Yeah, but suppose your hand slipped in the dark, strayed over the line into spam and you tapped one of *their* shoulders…what then? I say it’s simpler (and more to my benefit) if next time you turn on a light and make sure it’s my shoulder. Just saying.

Good Morning Chips and All TOD……….My son and daughter in law are heading to the hospital to have My First Grand Child. What do I do boil water…so Exciting. Asking for blessings and prayers for a safe delivery. Thank You TOD for being my go to for anything President Obama and his Vision of America.

Yes, boil water. 🙂 Why did every movie with a birth talk about boiling water in preparation? I could never figure that out. It was the only thing that was required. I went thru your waiting game recently—–after waiting longer than MY allotted time to hear anything, I started calling for updates. I think daughter and husband finally had to tell me that they were a little busy there, that they would call me when they had any definitive news. 🙂 Exciting day for you—-share the good news when you get it!

Talking of births and remembering that some here were interested in the arrival of the youngest MHPerry – she explains

‘How we made our miracle’

“On Feb. 14, my husband James and I welcomed our daughter into the world. Many people in our lives knew that we were expecting but most viewers of MHP Show were not aware of the impending arrival because I was not visibly pregnant. Now that our baby is born, we believe the time is right to share our extraordinary journey along with the sacrifices and gifts of so many that ushered in this life.

The birth of every child is miraculous. This little girl is no exception.

I had my first daughter, Parker, when I was 28. It was easy. I was pregnant within a month of deciding to try and avoided all of the serious complications and most of the minor annoyances of pregnancy. She was delivered after an entirely natural, unassisted labor. I assumed this would be the first of several pregnancies and that I would add to my family immediately.

A retired investor plans to drop as much as $100 million on attack ads during the 2014 election to pressure lawmakers and governors to act on climate change, the New York Times reported Monday.

Tom Steyer, founder of the hedge fund Farallon Capital Management, is seeking to raise $50 million from donors to match $50 million of his own money for his political organization NextGen Climate Action, people familiar with the discussions told the Times.

The group’s targets include climate change skeptics like Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). But when NextGen asked supporters this month to pick a congressional candidate for the group to run ads against, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who is a Keystone pipeline supporter, was included on the list of choices, according to the Times.

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Too Much Money in Politics from the Other side. At least, this guy wants an Earth with Humans Inhabiting the Earth.

I do like your plan of action, Japa. I was myself thinking that we don’t need to worry about Joy for now, as long as we are in the top 5. Joy can me introduced to her Waterloo in the final round next week.

Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a top Senate Democrat and member of the body’s antitrust subcommittee, appeared to give his blessing to Comcast’s purchase of Time Warner Cable, but did not mention that his brother was involved in the mega-deal. The news was first reported by the website LittleSis.

Schumer’s office said on Monday night that the senator was not aware of his brother’s involvement, and “will recuse himself from Congressional consideration of the matter to avoid any appearance of bias.”

In a statement on Thursday, Schumer’s office said he is “pleased with the news” that Comcast has committed to preserving Time Warner Cable call center jobs in Buffalo.

Schumer’s brother, Robert Schumer, was named “Dealmaker of the Week” by American Lawyer on Friday for his work on on the agreement. He is a partner at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

Charles Schumer received more campaign contributions from Time Warner Cable than any other member of Congress during the 2010 election cycle, the most recent time he was up for reelection, according to the website OpenSecrets.

Miami-Dade Corrections Officer Marcus Leon Thompson told police his Glock 9mm firearm, which he kept unholstered in his right pants pocket, went off when he reached into the pocket for money and a valet ticket at Shooters Waterfront Cafe. The bullet then hit the base of a table, fragmented and ricocheted.

A young mom is in critical condition after being shot multiple times by her ex-husband in the parking lot of an Indianapolis day care, where she was dropping off her 2 children. Police have sent out an alert with the license plate # of the ex-husband’s car, including the info that he has an “In God We Trust” license plate, an option in Indiana.